House of Sforza

The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy that ruled the Duchy of Milan from 1450 to 1535. The family rose from the rural nobility of Lombardy to become condottieri, and the extinction of the House of Visconti led to the Sforza family becoming the ruling family of Milan. The Sforza family allied with the House of Borgia through marriage in 1493, but the alliance was annulled in 1497 when the marriage was dissolved; the Sforza family had also invited France to invade Italy. In 1499, during the Italian Wars, Duke Ludovico Sforza was deposed by King Louis XII of France for betraying the Milanese-French alliance, and he was briefly restored in 1500. In 1512, Massimiliano Sforza was restored to the title of Duke by the Swiss mercenaries during their invasion of northern Italy, only to be ousted from power in 1515 by King Francis I of France. From 1521 to 1535, Francesco II Sforza ruled over a restored Sforza Duchy of Milan, and his death sparked the Italian War of 1536-38. The Sforza of Pesaro were deposed in 1519, and they were deposed in the Two Sicilies in 1624.